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Abstract

Human activities are at the core of the numerous advancements in technology and learning. The objective of this study was to gather and report the most frequently observed activities learners express to be valuable when attending online courses. Knowing such top valuable activities can provide a guide for online learning systems vendors on the key platform attributes that are most valuable, and subsequently, enable them to design more effective platforms. A review of activity theory and its implication for e-learning environments is provided as the theoretical background for this study. A list of the top ten most frequently observed valuable activities is presented based on a qualitative exploratory study conducted with five focus groups totaling 47 graduate MIS students who attended online learning courses. Results suggest that nearly all of the most frequently observed valuable activities revolved around the flexibility of the online learning environments. Additionally, activities related to performing research online as well as communication either with the professor or with other students (be it via e-mail, discussion forums or chat) appear to be very valuable for graduate MIS students. The paper concludes with a summary, remarks and implications of the study findings for research, as well as suggestions for future studies.